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State of Crypto

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Examining the intersection of cryptocurrency and government.

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Policy

State of Crypto: What Regulators Said at Consensus 2021

Regulators are getting more involved in crypto, or so they said at this year's Consensus event.

Federal Reserve Governor Lael Brainard detailed the policy considerations around a digital dollar on Monday.

Policy

State of Crypto: Meet Lael Brainard, the Fed's CBDC Champion

Last year, Federal Reserve Governor Lael Brainard announced the Boston branch of the U.S. central bank was exploring a digital dollar. She’ll be speaking next week at Consensus.

Federal Reserve Governor Lael Brainard has addressed crypto-related issues while in her role at the U.S. central bank over the past five years.

Policy

State of Crypto: Gary Gensler's Regulatory Clarity Sounds Awfully Familiar

Gary Gensler said Congress should provide clarity around crypto exchange regulation. A 2020 bill sought to do just that.

SEC Chair Gary Gensler suggested Congress could grant a federal regulator oversight authority over crypto exchanges during a Congressional hearing last week.

Policy

State of Crypto: The Bitcoin Fog Indictment Shows the Permanence of User Data

The feds arrested the alleged operator of bitcoin mixing service Bitcoin Fog last week. But where’d they get the information to indict him?

An IRS-CI agent said he identified the alleged operator of crypto mixing service Bitcoin Fog using data from various exchanges the U.S. took down and blockchain analysis.

Policy

State of Crypto: Congress Takes One Step Closer to Regulatory Clarity

A bipartisan bill addressing cryptocurrencies made it through the House of Representatives. Next up: the Senate.

The Senate is now looking at a bill that would evaluate cryptocurrency regulation within the U.S.

Policy

State of Crypto: Unpacking Hester Peirce's Newest Safe Harbor Proposal

The revised Token Safe Harbor proposal defines what a successful project would look like.

A safe harbor would give crypto startups some breathing room as they launched their projects.

Policy

What Coinbase’s Rise Says to the World

Coinbase's listing on Nasdaq sends a powerful signal of legitimacy to the U.S. crypto community, as well as to the crypto-curious in the traditional financial sector.

Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong

Policy

State of Crypto: The IRS Sets Its Sights on Circle

The IRS has issued a John Doe summons to Circle, in a repeat of its collection of Coinbase customer information. What has changed since then?

The IRS wanted to know about Coinbase's customers a few years ago. Now it's looking at Circle (and Poloniex, which hasn't been part of Circle since 2019).

Policy

State of Crypto: FATF's New Guidance Takes Aim at DeFi

The Financial Action Task Force addressed DeFi and NFTs in its new proposed draft guidance, but its new definitions might be extremely broad.

(Hervé Cortinat/OECD, modified by CoinDesk)

Policy

State of Crypto: What’s Next for the OCC?

The OCC published a number of crypto-friendly pieces of guidance last year. The next head of this banking regulator could undo this work.

President Joe Biden should nominate a new head for the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency in the coming weeks.